GSC Cross Country Teams Return to Memphis
By Rori Eddie

Memphis--The GulfSouth Conference Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships return to Memphis on October 27th at Plough Park. This will be the fifth time in the last six years this meet has been held in the River City. Twelve men’s teams will await the starting gun at 9:00 a.m. for the 8 K race. Approximately 30 minutes following the conclusion of the men’s race, 16 women’s teams will hear the starter’s gun to begin their 5K championship. The top seven finishers in each race earn First Team All-GSC honors with the next seven listed as the Second Team.

Defending men’s champion Harding seeks to become the third different team in GSC history to win back-to-back Conference titles. The Bisons dominated last year’s meet, placing five of the top seven runners, including Individual Champion, Linus Chepkwony (25:48), to dethrone three-time defending champion West Georgia, 19-82. Troy State is the only other team to successfully defend its GSC Championship, capturing 15 in a row from 1974-88.

The odds are again in Harding’s favor. The Bisons rank No. 1 in the South Region and No. 10 in the nation entering the meet. The Conference also boasts two other teams in the South Region poll, No. 5 Alabama-Huntsville and No. 7 West Florida.

The Christian Brothers University squad looks to be competitive as the Bucs have placed in the top 10 in all of their races this season.

Individually, the field features nine returning All-GSC runners, including five First Team qualifiers: West Georgia’s Gavin Bailey (No. 2, 25:56), Harding’s Japeth Langat (No. 3, 25:57), David Scharff (No. 4, 26:13) and Scott Wietecha (No. 6, 26:15) and Alabama-Huntsville’s Andrew Hodges (No. 7, 26:36).